IMAGINATION!
by Beyond an Anomaly
Summary: A normal afternoon. A box. The title. Spongebob fans and gamers alike, you know where I'm going with this.
1. Chapter 1

Hal Emmerich was leaning back in his chair, not having much to do besides counting the crevices in the ceiling or watching the same episode of Naruto on his computer for the fifty-seventh time. He felt the cool breeze run right past his hair as the ribbons attached to the portable fan on his desk kept swiveling and waving left to right and right to left. A small Newton's Cradle was sitting right next to it, with its four magnetic balls dangling from their metallic strings. Emmerich took the ball on the far end of the cradle, held it back for a couple of seconds, and watched as the ball hit the ball next to it, causing a chain reaction hitting the ball on the other side.

The physics of it, (or of anything, really), mesmerized the man, who seemed to see the more scientific, complicated aspect of everything around him. There wasn't much for him to see, however; he knew that quite well, as he watched the Newton's Cradle do its work, going back and forth...back and forth...

All he could hear for the longest time was the clacking of the cradle and the buzzing of the fan next to it. Suddenly, however, a buzz from the intercom that hung above him made him perk up and forget about the nostalgic sounds.

"Yeah?" he stared up at the ceiling, adjusting his glasses.

"Hal Emmerich?" the automated-sounding voice coming from the intercom said his name.

"This is he."

"There's a package for you upfront."

"Uh..." he couldn't remember the last time he got anything in the mail…"Yeah. Okay. I'll pick it up in a minute."

The intercom shut off, and Emmerich reluctantly got up and left his office.

Walking down the hall, he was trying to think of what exactly would be in that package...maybe it was something he ordered online that he just forgot about. Perhaps it was some graphic novel he ordered straight from Japan and it just took forever to send. Or maybe that awesome hat he saw online hat he desperately needed to have. Or maybe...just maybe...it was a present from someone! Yet who would send _him, _an anime nerd whose IQ was way above average and pushing forty, anything? And what exactly would it be?

He soon came across the package. There wasn't anything remarkable about the package; it was just a plain cardboard box with his name written hastily in black marker on it. It was large, though, as it seemed it could possibly fit his body inside four or five time

s.

Emmerich braced himself, knowing quite well how much of a wimp he was; he was one of those people who would need help unscrewing a bottle cap from a regular bottle of water, let alone carrying a large package all by himself.

Like any self-respecting wimp, however, he was determined he could carry the package all by himself. He looked around to make sure no one was there to watch him potentially break something, bent down, and slowly picked up the box; he already began to grunt as if he was carrying a block of iron the same size.

However...he quickly stopped with the grunting, as he found that the box was already off the marble, not-so-sanitary ground.

"Whoa." he thought to himself. "That's...weird."

He kept believing it was as he soon found himself in his own office without much struggle at all; the trip there and back only took about two minutes or so.

Emmerich placed the package on his desk, slowly walking around it to see what it could possibly be. It was light...so say if it _was _a book or a glamorous hat...why would it be in a box so large?

He took out a pair of scissors, cutting the ends of the postage tape that kept the box closed. Then, he opened the box and peeked inside. His eyes widened. It wasn't a book or a hat at all...

It was absolutely nothing.

"Stupid kids..." he thought, thinking of the teenagers who lived downtown that pelted eggs at his car every Thursday and was also the reason why he got a call from "Pablo's Sombrero Casa" three times a week; he'd block the juveniles if he knew their numbers. He did, however, know the number of one of the teen's mothers. Maybe _she _could straighten them out. It was wishful thinking, though, as he knew that if she DID do something about it, (which was to him considered unlikely), he would possibly still have to hear about how his sombrero was ready for pick-up at Joe Mama's house.

He bit his lip, reaching for his flip-phone. He quickly dialed the number, put the phone to his ear, and waited for a reply as he tapped his fingers on his desk.

It wasn't before long until he heard a forty-or-so-year-old woman ask on the other line:

"Hello?"

"Yes, is this Mrs. Sherman?" Emmerich thought of the intercom when he said that; he was in an office for too long.

"Yes...who's speaking?"

"Hi, my name is Hal Emmerich," he said. "And I just received an empty package about a couple of minutes ago. I believe your son has sent it to me."

Emmerich stared at the messy handwriting on the front of the package; the kid even spelled his name wrong, so it HAD to have been him. Who spells "Hal" like "Howl", anyway?

She gasped.

"MY little Jimmy-bear?" Emmerich rolled his eyes. That was why nothing was done about those infinite pranks that were pulled on him by those morons downtown; their mothers were so freaking ignorant. "But he's an ANGEL! He wouldn't hurt a soul!"

"Yeah, well-"

Right when he was about to get on his case on the little pest, a man in commando gear jumped out and exclaimed:

"SURPRISE!"

Emmerich nearly screamed, almost dropping his phone. The next thing he knew, Snake was standing right in front of him...with a large grin on his face, for some reason.

"Uh...hold on, ma'am, I'm gonna have to call you back." Emmerich hung up on the woman and put the phone on his desk.

"W-What the hell, Snake?!" he stuttered, still very shocked of the sudden encounter. "Ever heard of knocking?"

"Knocking?" Snake pondered over the strange vocabulary only for a moment, then quickly got back to why he nearly scared the bejeezus out of his comrade. "Anyway, whadda you think?"

"Think of...what?"

"You know, Otacon!" Snake pointed at the empty box. "The package!"

"Wait...YOU sent that package?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Damn it!" Hal thought with disappointment. "I really wanted to rat out that little twerp..."

He facepalmed.

"And why did you send me an empty box?" he asked Snake, who seemed excited for some reason.

"Is he high?" he wondered.

"What? No!" Snake shook his head and patted the box, assuring it was more than what it was. "This is MORE than just an empty box!"

"Oh really? What is it, then?"

"The greatest gift I as a friend can ever give you."

"Oh God..." Emmerich groaned in his mind. "I really don't wanna deal with this cheesy friendship-is-magic crap today..."

Nonetheless, since he knew quite well that Snake could kill him if he ticked him off in the slightest, he decided to play along.

"What is it, then?" he repeated. "Friendship?"

"No."

"Happiness?"

"Nope."

"Gratitude?"

"Nuh-uh."

"Empathy?"

"Are you even trying anymore?"

"Frankly, I wasn't trying to start with."

"Well, what I have given to you is the most powerful, life-giving thing in the world!"

"...Oxygen?"

"No! I have given you the gift of..." Snake put his arm around Emmerich's shoulder. "IMAGINATION!"

"Yep," Hal figured. "He's high."

* * *

I've seen many many MANY pictures of Snake in a box under a rainbow exclaiming "IMAGINATION!" to NOT do this story. And yes, Snake is and will be VERY OOC in this; I figured I could try something comedically different. So...please review and tell me whatcha think! Hope you enjoyed (and will enjoy) it!-BAA Productions


	2. Chapter 2

"C'mon, Otacon! Don't drag your feet!" Snake exclaimed as Hal was carrying the empty box and trying to keep up with Snake.

"Remind me why I'm running around with this empty box." Otacon asked him.

"I'm gonna show you how to use that box for its proper use!

"Um...storing-"

"No!" Snake shut he and Otacon into what looked like a small supply room. "Now put that box on the floor!"

"But-"

"Nah-ah, just DO IT."

"I..." Emmerich rolled his eyes behind his glasses. "Okay. Whatever."

He placed the large and empty box gently on the floor and Snake walked in front of it.

"Now," Snake began. "With this box, you must treat it with love, dignity, and respect."

"Uh...why?"

"Just let me finish." he stated. "Now, on the outside is just cardboard-"

"And my name spelled wrong."

Snake's eyes widened as he saw the side of the box that showed Otacon's real name on the side in scribbly black marker.

"How do you spell your name?"

"H-A-L. Hal. And since this _was _from you, why didn't you just write 'Otacon' on the side or even just give it to me in person?"

"Surprise factor."

"Right." he sighed. "Anyway, continue."

"So, inside this box," Snake came right back to where he left off. "Is something that not even YOU could think up!"

"...Seriously?"

"Yeah, seriously! You wanna know why?"

Otacon sighed, rolled his eyes and adjusted his thin-framed glasses, pushing them further back.

"Why?"

"In this box..." Snake had his hand on Otacon's shoulder and made him stare inside the cardboard box. "Is _EVERYTHING._"

"Oh no..." Otacon thought to himself. "This is one of those 'riddles' and 'proverbs', isn't it?"

Granted, Otacon liked puzzles, but this was quite an exception. His nack for puzzles was more along the lines of innocent jigsaws and Rubik's cubes...but this? No. There had to be SOME logic behind the puzzle; nothing _too _profound and "poetic".

"Um...by everything...?"

"Anything is in this box, as long as you use your..." Snake grinned wide again; he was starting to scare the scientist. "IMAGINATION!"

Unlike what he thought, Emmerich was relieved. The box. The whole "imagination" thing. Snake's excitement. It actually did make sense...sorta.

"Oh!" Otacon chuckled a little. "Like Spongebob?"

Snake's smile then disappeared and was replaced with a confused daze.

"Spongehuh?"

"You know! Spongebob!" Otacon had a guilty pleasure that, though after his childhood, he would at times flip over to Spongebob on Friday and Saturday mornings whenever it was on his mind; he found it somewhat amusing. That and, if anything, Patrick made him feel A LOT smarter. "You know, that one episode where Spongebob and Patrick get that one box for a TV set from Squidward and..."

Snake was still confuzzled. For all he knew, it was a kitchen utensil that was used back in the kitchens to wipe off the tough grime on plates and such.

It was then that Emmerich saw that explaining the not-so-difficult to explain TV show for most ages was futile to put into detail to a military stealth specialist who probably lost it, since he apparently made this "profound" discovery all on his own.

"Never mind." Otacon hummed. Snake then grabbed his comrade by the wrist and suddenly dragged him to the box. Emmerich made a quick yelp right before Snake flipped the box over them. It somehow got quite darker; Otacon was quite confused.

"W-What the-" Emmerich stammered in shock until he felt a hand over his mouth.

"Shh! Quiet!" Snake rasped. "Or you'll spoil it!"

Otacon's eyes darted around the box though there obviously wasn't much to see.

"Mmmph mmph?" Otacon's translated muffle under Snake's abnormally large hand was "Spoil what?" but everything one can humanly say in a muffle sounds like "Mmmph mmph" even to the person saying it, so not even Otacon knew what he said.

"The atmosphere, that's what!" Snake somehow could, however.

"Mmmph mmphmmphmm?"

"You don't hang around the inside of a box that much to know the atmosphere..." Snake nodded to his own words. "You wouldn't understand."

He moved his hand away from Otacon's mouth, and almost as soon as he did, Otacon tried to flip the box up and make a run for the exit. Snake, however, planted his foot firmly on the back of Otacon's lab coat, making Otacon stick right where he was. He blew a piece of hair out of his face in frustration as he shooed Snake's foot away and folded his arms with his back arched and legs crossed.

"Now," Snake said. "Can I demonstrate how this works?"

"I don't have a choice..."

"Correct."

"So..." Otacon was trying to at the very least get in a comfortable position. "Yeah. I guess."

"Okay..." Snake pondered for a moment. "Name something you like. It can be anything."

"Um, okay...Pokemon."

"Pokemon, huh? Excellent choice!" Snake immediately cupped his hand into an odd shape as if he was holding a literal ball, then made a gesture as if he was throwing it to the ground. Otacon cocked a brow at this.

"Pikachu!" Snake exclaimed. "I CHOOSE YOU!"

Nothing happened. There was still just Snake and Otacon. Two grown men...in a cardboard box...with one of them trying to play invisible Pokemon...

"Uh..."

"Well, don't just sit there!" Snake sputtered, waving his arms around. "Summon a Pokemon! Like what I did! Any Pokemon at all!"

"Um..." Otacon hesitantly made the same hand gesture and looked as though he was throwing a ball at the ground. "Go...Charizard."

Then, Snake began this bizarre battle.

"Pikachu! Use Thunderbolt!"

Again. Silence. Snake, however, gave Otacon a glare as if he was impatiently waiting for something. Otacon quickly noticed.

"...What?"

"Well don't just stand there! Do something!"

"Oh! Um...okay," Otacon decided to play along. He guessed. "Charizard, use...Flame Thrower."

Unlike what Otacon predicted, instead of the usual silence, Snake suddenly screamed.

"Oh my God!" he almost cried. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"What are you talking about?!"

"You're Charizard is roasting my Pikachu!" Snake almost sounded like he was indeed bursting into tears. "And he's happy about it!"

"W-WHAT?!"

"Don't you see? He's laughing! He and his other dragon buddies!" Snake pointed at air as he shook his fist with his other while baring his teeth. "I'm looking at YOU, Dragonite! Yes you!"

Otacon had his mouth slightly agape as Snake continued his little rant.

"Don't think I don't have you all figured out!" Otacon was silent through this drabble, frantically looking behind him to see what the crazed commando was squawking about. "What, with your big blue eyes and fat stomach! You seem SOOO innocent; you all do! Especially YOU, Wobbuffet!"

"...Wobboffet...?" Otacon didn't even bother asking any more questions.

"Yes...you seem quite like the non-guilty fellow yourself, but I see that tail of yours! That secret! Just...staring at me like that! What is your secret anyway, huh? You can't see me, but that tail can, you know! Yes! ALL OF YOU ARE GUILTY!"

Snake stared up at the top of the box as if he was staring far beyond the container.

"Yeah! Go on!" Snake bellowed. "Fly away you stupid dragons! Go on! GET!"

Snake then brought his focus back to over Otacon's shoulder.

"Ah...and you can't get away...can you?" Snake evilly chuckled as he shaped his hand into some sort of gun. "Well, Wobbuffet...ALLOW ME TO MAKE YOU LEAVE!"

Snake pointed his gun, made a clicking noise with his mouth and starting exclaiming: "POW! POW! POW!" over and over again, until his eyes suddenly widened.

"What?! NO!" he gasped.

"W-What now?!" Otacon knew he wasn't going to get an answer that was at all rational to him, but hey, if you were trapped with your best friend inside a cardboard box as they're going crazy and you're going brain-dead, wouldn't you ask what's going on around you even if you knew you were to get no sensible reply back?

"Your Wobbuffet is repelling my bullets with its psychic powers!"

See?

"Now they're heading towards-gah!"

Snake fell backwards and began to gasp for air with his hand clasped over his chest. Otacon's eyes widened in shock as he crawled over to Snake.

"SNAKE!" Emmerich was very, VERY convinced that the commando was going through a cardiac arrest, with his eyes bulging and his shaky breaths. What else could he possibly be doing?

Snake then stopped, giving no other movements or sounds. Otacon didn't know what to think...

"Snake? Snake?!" Otacon kept trying to shake Snake, but he gave no response. Hal Emmerich assumed that the worst had happened to Solid Snake at last. He wasn't too sure what happened to Snake, but he knew that he lost yet another figure in his life that he cared about. He felt tears roll down his eyes.

"Why..._why _is it always me?" Otacon sobbed over his comrade. "Why did he have to go like this?! Dying in a stupid, fictional game?! He was supposed to die with honor! With praise! Not this...not like this..."

Snake actually began to listen. He felt bad that Otacon truly thought for a mere second that he killed over, but he definitely didn't pity his acting skills.

Because let's face it: with those different identites, emotions, and faces that man has, Solid Snake is quite the actor...with that being an understatement from a deranged author, of course.

Oh, right. Breaking the fourth wall. Oops. I'll patch that up later.

Otacon kept crying, and the more he did...the more Snake was actually keen to hear what he had to say, even if he was playing dead.

"My God, why?! My only friend! Just...WHY HIM?!" Wait-only friend? Snake didn't think that Otacon was _that _socially awkward. How and why did he mean so much to that weird scientist? "He was everything I ever wanted to be...strong, brave, daring, smooth and I'm...I'm just some nerd. A know-it-all. A...a...freak." Oh.

"I always imagined being a guy like him..." Otacon then stared down at Snake, who was still not moving. He was devastated. "A guy like you, Snake. Did you think I wanted to be who I am now? I didn't. I wanted to be a hero...like you. I wanted to be the coolest, most unbelievable hero around. I wanted to be someone. I_ DREAMED _of being someone like you. Someone that would actually make my folks proud of me so that could at least _know _I was there and care about me...just a little bit...but here I am. My dad's dead...and like my mom even cares if I'm alive or not."

Snake thought about that for a moment. He never quite remembered a time where Otacon actually talked about his parents even slightly before.

"I...I..." Otacon weeped bitterly at Snake's side. "I'm so sorry...you were my hero...I'm sorry I never helped you as much as I should have as was never a hero myself...I ran away too much from everything...I wasn't you...I'm sorry..."

It was at that moment where Snake felt something weird in his chest, almost like a cardiac arrest...but softer. He felt some different feeling from what Otacon said. His _hero. _He was a _hero _to him. Snake wasn't too sure what to think; it was hard to picture Otacon wearing his skin suit while sporting a mullet and smoking cigarettes, hiding under boxes and reading Playboy...

Yet, there was something else Otacon apparently admired about Snake; Snake was just trying to think about what exactly that thing was. Was it his charisma? Or...or maybe his cunning? No, maybe it was...

His courage. Yeah, that was it. Otacon even said it himself. He admired his...bravery. Yes, well, Otacon was indeed a cowardice, wetting himself at times whenever some baddie or bandito would show their ugly mugs and running away from danger only to find himself in a more scared state than what he was in around the danger itself.

Snake actually liked him, too. He wouldn't quite want to be Otacon, though, but his intellect astounded him. How he saw the world was quite remarkable as well. There were times where Snake himself thought of being inside Otacon's warped, twisted mind...

They both imagined being each other in some bizzare way. Snake and Otacon had their pros and cons, and they both imagined themselves being who they thought were the most interesting people in the world: each other.

Snake finally decided to end this little game, opening his eyes like nothing happened.

"And THAT is how you use your imagination!" Snake exclaimed, patting Otacon on the back. Emmerich looked up at Snake as he wiped the tears from his face.

"W-WHAT?!" Otacon practically bellowed as Snake sat up.

"Damn, Hal, you're good at that whole 'sorrowful past' thing!" Snake tried to wipe that entire cheesy moment out of his mind; that gushy stuff just wasn't his style. Why was it so hard to him, though? "Maybe I should've done something more dramatic, like maybe say shakily 'Tell Meryl I love her!' or something. Or what was that thing your sis did before she died? Take off your glasses? Yeah! That's it! I should've done that!"

"Snake, I thought you DIED!"

"I did! From Wobbuffet's reflected bullets!"

"WHAT WOBBUFFET?! I-" Otacon sighed, crawling out of the box. Snake followed out from behind him. "You know what, I just need to get outta here for a minute. I have work to do, anyway..."

Otacon groaned as he stomped away from the box. Before he could leave, however.

"Hey, uh...Otacon?" Snake rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah?" he huffed. "What?"

"Did you...um..."

"What?"

"Really...mean all that?"

Otacon paused for a moment, shrugging his shoulders only softly.

"Yeah...I guess. You're a cool guy, ya know. You just worry me sometimes..." Otacon sighed with a faint grin on his face. "Just promise me we'll never play this game again, okay?"

Snake snickered.

"Yeah...okay."

"See you later."

And Otacon left...well, the box would be considered Snake's office, right?

Snake had a grin of satisfaction on his face.

"Not what I was expecting..." Snake thought to himself. "But I'll take what I can get."

The box Snake had was now closed and taped, only this time, Hal's name was removed. Instead, it was replaced with someone else's...

Snake walked over to the far side of the room, where a lone intercom system laid idle...even though it was still functional. He pressed the red button that came with the system and said:

"Yes, hello, is Mei Ling there?"

It took a while, until a young female's voice replied:

"Yeah, I'm here. What is it?"

"There's a package waiting for you upfront..." Snake answered. "It's a very nice surprise..."

* * *

Well, that's that. I needed to get SOMETHING done, what with this Writer's Block and such. What did you guys think about it? Review if you wish and thank you for reading! -BAA Productions


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